Neuroimmunology. II: Antigenic specificity of the nervous system

Antigenic specificity of the nervous system refers to a property conveyed by unique cell surface structures that are present on different classes of nervous system tissue. These structures are of major importance for the study of nervous system structure and function, and can play a central role in determining patterns of nervous system injury. Thus, the major classes of nervous system cells are identified by structures that are unique to them: neurons by the presence of tetanus toxin receptors on their surface and oligodendrocytes by the presence of surface galactocerebroside, for example. With the advent of hybridoma technology, a large number of monoclonal antibodies are being identified which have increased by several orders of magnitude the ability to define subclasses of nervous system tissue according to unique antigens. In addition, surface antigens of nervous system tissue may determine the specificity of nervous system injury by (1) functioning as receptors for viruses or (2) being the targets of autoimmune responses. Patterns of viral injury to the nervous system are often extraordinarily selective (e.g., poliovirus tropism for motor neurons), and nervous system viral tropism is due is some instances to the interaction of a virus with a unique surface antigen on neural cells. The specificity of injury in autoimmune disease (such as that against the acetylcholine receptor in myasthenia gravis) likewise must be explained by an immune response against unique antigenic determinants on the tissue being damaged. Some antigens are known to be shared between nervous system and other tissues or between nervous system and infectious agents such as bacteria or viruses. The presence of shared antigenic structures between the nervous system and infectious agents creates the possibility that an immune response generated against a virus may concurrently damage normal nervous system tissue.